More bad figures have been released which show the depth of prime London’s housing crisis. 

Property data consultancy LonRes says that last month – March – was another poor one, with significantly lower transactions than a year earlier.  

It says that while the high level of transactions a years ago in March 2025 – due to the end of a stamp duty holiday – exaggerates the apparent fall, sales activity in 2026 so far is well down on the long-term average for the time of year.  

There were 41.0% fewer sales transactions in March than a year earlier and 13.3% fewer than the 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic) March average.

New sales instructions in March were 8.8% higher than last year and 34.7% higher than the 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic) March average.  

The stock of available homes for sale at the end of March was 13.8% higher than a year earlier but remains lower than the peak reached in September last year.

Meanwhile average achieved sold prices fell by 5.5% on an annual basis in March.  

Compared to 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic) levels, values were 7.5% lower.

Transactions in the £5m+ market were 3.0% lower in March than the same month last year. New instructions in this market fell by 12.7% over the same period.  

The number of £5m+ homes available for sale across prime London grew by 7.2% over the 12 months to the end of March.

Looking at the figures for the whole of Q1, there were 27.8% fewer transactions than last year and they were 16.6% lower than the average of the preceding 10 years. 

The number of properties going under offer increased by 7.3% compared to Q1 2025 but 6.8% lower than the long-term average.  

New instructions in Q1 were down 6.0% but were 63.8% up over the longer-term, while there were 12.6% and 106.2% increases in price reductions.

At the end of March there were 7.2% more £5m+ properties on the market than at the same time last year and, while stock levels are significantly above the long-term average, the current level is a little below the peak reached in summer 2025. 

Meanwhile LonRes lettings data shows thatrental growth for London’s most expensive properties returned to positive territory in March.

Average rental values increased by 0.3% on an annual basis in March, a return to growth after three consecutive monthly falls.  

Longer term, rents are 33.2% above their 2017-2019 (pre-pandemic) average.